132 THE CHERRIES OF NEW YORK 



Kentish. 7. Miller Card. Kal. 154. 1734. 8. Truchsess-Heim Kirschensort. 660, 661. 1819. 

 9. Downing Fr. Trees Am. 196 fig., 197. 1845. 10. Am. Pom. Soc. Cat. 74. 1862. 11. Mas Le Verger 

 8:25, 26, fig. II. 1866-73. 



Cerisier Hatif. 12. Duhamel Trail. Arb. Fr. 1:170, 171, PI. IV. 1768. 13. Truchsess-Heim 

 Kirschensort. 657, 658, 691. 1819. 14. Poiteau Pom. Franc. 2: No. 13, PI. 1846. 15. Leroy Diet. 

 Pom. 5:343, 344 fig., 345. 1877. 



Cerise de Volger. 16. Knoop Fructologie 2:36, 43. 1771. 



Friihzeitige Amarelle. 17. Truchsess-Heim Kirschensort. 616-618. 1819. 18. Dochnahl Fxihr. Obst- 

 kunde 3:70. 1858. 



Early Griotte. 19. Prince Pom. Man. 2:131, 132. 1832. 



French. 20. Quebec Pom. & Fr. Or. Soc. Rpt. 122, 123, 1906. 



Early Richmond has long been the leading Sour Cherry of its season 

 — the first of its kind in the markets. It is not a remarkable variety in 

 its fruit-characters, the cherries being but medium in size, mediocre in 

 quality and not handsomer than other Amarelles with which it belongs. 

 It is, however, a very good culinary fruit and when well ripened may be 

 eaten out of hand with relish by those who like the refreshing acidity of 

 a Sour Cherry. Though not in nearly as great demand for canning as 

 Montmorency it still makes a very good canned product, being used more 

 than it otherwise would be to prolong the canning season because of its 

 earliness. Before cherries were largely canned for the markets. Early 

 Richmond was much used in making dried cherries, the product, rightly 

 cured, making a delicious sweetmeat which would keep for several months. 

 The cherries are remarkable for the tenacity with which the stone clings 

 to the stem. It is the tree in which the Early Richmond particularly 

 surpasses. It thrives in varied soils and climates from the St. Lawrence 

 to the Carolinas and from the Atlantic to the Pacific — • possibly the most 

 cosmopolitan of all cherries — and everywhere vigorous, healthy and fruit- 

 ful. For the many purposes for which it may be used and because of the 

 characters of the tree. Early Richmond is indispensable in every home and 

 commercial orchard for an early cherry. After Montmorency it is more 

 largely grown than any other cherry, Sweet or Sour, in New York. 



Early Richmond is the old Kentish of English writers, confused more 

 or less with the different Montmorencies. Whether or not this variety 

 was introduced into Kent, England, by the Romans and became thus 

 early the Kentish or whether it came from Flanders or Holland where it 

 was called Cerise de Volger, is not now certain. Probably, however, it is 

 one of the many seedlings of the Cerise Commune, as are the Montmoren- 

 cies, and was first known as Cerisier Hitif. Early in the Sixteenth 

 Century the gardener of Henry VIII made extensive plantings in Kent 



